Deen Sheikh On the road less travelled.....

This past weekend saw the conclusion of yet another hugely successful annual Karachi Literature Festival which was staged at the Beach Luxury hotel. This was the fourth year that this event took place in the city by the sea and it has created a road map for other cities to follow. Very soon the city of Lahore will be having it's first literary festival, we can hope it will also transform into a regularly held annual event. This year's Karachi Literature Festival was not as good as the ones held during the previous year, even though this year the choice of venue for staging the event was far more spacious and accessible to a greater number of people. Reason being a lot of writers, poets and intellects cancelled on the very last minute, especially from across the border. I did get to meet one of India's most famous female journalists Barkha Dutt from NDTV. Apparently I didn't have an idea of how famous she was in India, I just recognised her from a few random political t...

Another year, another month of Feb, another Valentines day graces our calender. Another year where the religious right aka the mullah brigade is at it again condemning it as an act of immorality that will result in all hell breaking loose on the moral fabric of our society. Regardless of what one thinks of Valentines day, hate it, love it or our indifferent, it is still going to happen, there is now law in Pakistan that forbids it's celebration. And it seem's plausible that this trend will continue on for years, Valentines day will come, the mullah brigade with make its usual fuss, people wanting to celebrate it will celebrate by exercising their God given free will and on the next day life will resume as it was before the V day fever came in. On this day (V-day), thousands of couples are going to be going out for dinner, exchanging gifts, spending time together and exchange moments of intimacy, and in the case of Pakistan since public displays of affection are frowned u...

So Valentines day is coming. Yes that's right the 14th of Feb is just around the corner, and signs of the day to come are all around the city of Karachi. To cash in, so many companies big and small are spending good money on getting their advertising message across to the audience they hope would be celebrating the day. Whether their huge outdoor hoardings, print adverts or those appearing on prime time television, the spirit of Valentines day is definitely in the air, especially for the marketers. Among the campaigns dished out through different mediums this year, one that marketing campaign that really stands out is the one done by Cadbury for their signature flagship Dairy Milk chocolate brand. In the advertisement on television they show a young man who manages to get his message across to the girl he seeks by passing the chocolate with a Valentines day message across the class room, in the process, all but one piece of the chocolate get...